New Orleans Shares New Police Data

In a big move for transparency, the New Orleans police department is now sharing use of force incidents online, with daily updates. The U.S. Department of Transportation hosted an open data Twitter chat, Chicago is collecting and sharing data on air quality, weather, and road conditions, and the GSA explores an early business case for artificial intelligence in customer service. Read more in this week’s Open Data Download:

In show of transparency, NOPD’s use of force data details just one officer-involved shooting this year

“The New Orleans Police Department on Friday published a trove of data online that offer a meticulous breakdown of its officers’ use of force this year — the latest effort by the department to boost its accountability. The data, which will be updated daily on the city’s website, outline hundreds of incidents in 2016 in which officers became physical during arrests through the use of their hands, firearms or stun guns. They include details ranging from the race of the parties involved to the weather conditions recorded at the time. They even list instances in which officers drew their weapons but did not fire them.” Read more from The New Orleans Advocate.

Frequently Automated Questions: Is Artificial Intelligence the Future of FAQ?

“In the near future, artificially intelligent chatbots may digitally engage citizens on behalf of the federal government….The chatbots could respond in real time to millions of questions and comments citizens make through a growing number of third-party platforms and provide federal agencies more accurate data about what services and information people actually want. (ICF has a great visualization illustrating the extent to which federal agencies use verified third-party platforms, such as Facebook, Google, Socrata and Github, to engage citizens).” Read more from NextGov.

DOT Hosts Twitter Chat on Open Data

“The Department of Transportation hosted a Twitter chat on Monday under the hashtag #OpenDOT to get opinions on the agency’s open data policies.” Read more from MeriTalk.

Chicago gets serious about tracking air quality and traffic data

“Last week, the city began installing sophisticated computers on traffic poles to track air quality, weather and road data at a block-by-block level….Chicago is open sourcing the data, giving anyone the potential to do a creative analysis. Catlett [the project’s lead investigator and director of the Urban Center for Computation and Data.] imagined people looking at an overlay of construction permits and noise in a neighborhood. Or someone might compare air quality with the number of 911 calls in a neighborhood.” Read more from CNN.

GAO: Performance.gov needs big improvements

“The government reports efforts to execute on agency and cross-agency goals on the Performance.gov website. Created under the Government Performance and Results Act of 2010, the website is run by the Office of Management and Budget and the Performance Improvement Council and is supposed to offer quarterly progress reports. However, the agencies lack a long-term plan to improve the embattled site, and are not meeting federal website requirements, according to an Aug. 30 Government Accountability Office report.” Read more from FCW.

How officials are trying to make open data gains last

“As the Obama administration comes to a close, the White House is seeking to highlight progress it’s made to open and use data over the past eight years — while pushing those inside and outside government to continue the momentum.” Read more from FedScoop.

Pennsylvania wades into open data

“Pennsylvania launched its open data portal with 12 datasets — the foundation of the state’s central repository for open data in a machine-readable format….The portal is built on the Socrata cloud platform, which also supports open data sites for Colorado, Missouri, Illinois and other states, and local and federal government agencies, including those of the White House and San Francisco.” Read more from GCN.